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Identity Production in Figured Worlds: How some Mexican Americans become Chicana/o Activist Educators

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Abstract

Using Holland, Lachicotte, Skinner, and Cain’s (1998) theory of identity and their concept of figured worlds, this article provides an overview of how twenty-four Mexican Americans came to produce Chicana/o Activist Educator identities. The desire to raise consciousness (teach for social justice pero con ganas) and “give back to the [their] community” became a very important part of this identity. Using an ethnographic interview as well as a life history interview methodology, this article specifically focuses on the participants’ conceptual and procedural identity production in local Chicana/o activist figured worlds (usually in colleges and universities). In these local figured worlds, the participants produced a more complex process of identity production that was both conceptual and procedural. The article concludes with broad implications for urban teacher education.

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Acknowledgements

This research was funded in alternate years by the Spencer Foundation and the Gates Millennium Scholars Program. I owe gratitude to the following people for commenting on earlier drafts of this manuscript: Dorothy C. Holland, Margaret Eisenhart, Doug Foley, Anthony Brown, Melissa Moreno, Linda Prieto, Keith Sturges, Janet López, and three reviewers. Any faults in this article are solely my own.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA

    Luis Urrieta Jr.

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  1. Luis Urrieta Jr.
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Correspondence to Luis Urrieta Jr..

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Luis Urrieta, Jr. is assistant professor of cultural studies and education and Fellow in the Lee Hage Jamail Regents Chair in Education at the University of Texas at Austin. His research interests are in identity, agency, and social movements in education with a focus on Chicana/o and Indígena (P’urhépecha) education, citizenship and social studies education. 1 University Station D5700, Austin, TX 78712, USA.

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  Study participant profile—2001
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Urrieta, L. Identity Production in Figured Worlds: How some Mexican Americans become Chicana/o Activist Educators. Urban Rev 39, 117–144 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-007-0050-1

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